Ms. Rose presented her third annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration Friday night in Veterans Memorial Hall at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, Livingston.
This year's honorees were: Edward Josey and his wife, Doreen; Joseph Gumbs and his wife, Irene; the Rev. Kevin Fisher; Rabbi Gerald Sussman; Gonzalo Mercado; Dr. Robert Griswold; Folasade Campbell; and the Rev. Judy Brown.
Ms. Rose called this year's class of honorees "foot soldiers for justice that have worked to foster equal rights and improve the quality of life for people of color, immigrant groups, people with disabilities, the poor and the disenfranchised, just as Dr. King did."
Keynote speaker Khalil Gibran Muhammad, Ph.D., director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Harlem, said Rev. King had begun to realize that the sacrifices of those in the civil rights movement could be wasted if African Americans became comfortable simply with "having access" to the world around them without pushing to ensure their race's equity in society.
Knowledge of history was key to ensure that didn't happen.
"How can we celebrate this nation's accomplishments if we don't know the sacrifices that were made to create a racial democracy that could be a model for the world?," Dr. Muhammad said. "How can we guarantee that we won't move backwards?"
Dr. Muhammad added that today's young people are not aware of their history and therefore, "are subject to all sorts of educational standards that not just ignore history but disdain it. They are being prepared to be powerless in a world where the historical narrative shapes the world all around us."
He added that Dr. King was able to make the contributions he did because he was well-educated and knew his past. "History is an essential tool of the powerful; it is a matter of life and death."
The event also marked the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Performances were provided by Jeannine Otis and Larry Marshall.
Paul Johnson of West Brighton offered a special performance of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech.